If someone would draw this, that someone would be my hero

The Torch by Jack Bechdolt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was all prepared to give this book two stars, as I was put off by the incredible, undeniable sexism and the general assumption that everyone who survived the nuclear holocaust (in New York City in, let me see here, 1989) was white. But then, in one of the final scenes, it hit me like a flash. I saw it laid out perfectly before me-- this story was meant to be an art deco graphic novel.

From that point on, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, reveling in my imaginary graphic novel-- the Tintin-esque lurid colors of New York's jungle or the clean lines of the Chrystler building ruined and made jagged.

Basically, if you want something that's a little bit like Game of Thrones and a little bit like The Road and a little bit like Rise of the Molemen (Revenge of the Sewers)* and a little bit like the Great Gatsby and a lot like a Tin-Tin comic (and, let's be real, all the cultural bias that entails), this book is for you!

Also, I love Singularity& Co's organizational vision and I am prepared to give them a lot of the benefit of the doubt on this book and future ventures.

Read it if: You like dystopias, you like Game of Thrones, you would like to Save the Sci Fi, and you don't mind a little cultural imperialism and misogyny with your cornflakes. ESPECIALLY read it if you are looking to commit yourself to drawing a sprawling Art Deco graphic novel based on The Torch.

Lexie's Shelves: read, dystopia-is-coming, save-the-sci-fi.

The author is: really, really sketchy about women having power.

Things that bugged me: Here is a representative quote: "Others, and they were women, noted Alda's sudden affection for Frederick, and gossip was born." (The Torch, Location 2983 of 3512.)

*This book does not exist. Yet.